Interpretations:NVNC AVT NVMQVAM

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Passive-aggression

It's a tale of passive-aggression. The narrator has a goal in mind, maybe a political one judging from the mention of the Forum, but to get to place where he can achieve it has used tools that render achieving it impossible.

I get the sense of passive-aggression from the narrator because of the talk of deception and ending up a little trapped in one's place in the background. He worked hard to get to his position, but he can't get any further without revealing his true nature, and so he is trapped in politeness forever. After all, passive-aggression is the result of a person using what little they have to send the message they've been wanting to send anyhow.

Alas, political assassinations require daggers, not manners.

Autistic/Neurodivergent masking

I think this song tells the story of an autistic/neurodivergent person, who we’ll just call Kite Kid for now, who tries to mask his anger issues and his inability to socialize with others by studying someone he admires. In the beginning of the song, the first few lyrics tell us that Kite Kid is “angry and ill-mannered.” While it doesn’t go into detail on exactly what he does, the lyrics that follow it give us some more context on how KK probably isn’t very good at socializing.

By studying you from a distance, I learned the art of smiling. By watching how you behave, I trained myself to be polite

Not having a filter is something autistic people struggle with a lot, they speak their mind without considering how it makes the other people feel, or if it’s appropriate or not to the situation. KK is someone who gets upset easily, and can be rude/unpleasant to other people. When he sees someone who’s neurotypical, who we’ll just call Cloud (get it…kites soar in the sky…and clouds are in the sky…) he tries to become like them so he can talk to them. He copies their behavior and smile, and hides his ill-mannerisms. He became “Good.”

By trying to deceive, I ended up shy. By wanting to lie, I became good. I became good

The chorus is really interesting to me. KK was basically masking his anger issues and his inability to socialize by pretending to be normal, but when he tries to talk to Cloud he becomes shy and stays away from them. Autistic can’t really “fix” their inability to socialize. Just because you make yourself have eye contact with someone else or hide your brutal honesty, doesn’t mean your brain can accurately pick up on social cues or things like that. KK knows that he won’t be able to properly socialize with Cloud because he’s been putting up a facade. So, he stays away from them. The second verse really nails this point in.

Now I'm too scared To say hello And I'm too shy To say hi. Each day when I see you in the forum My courage drains away

I’m sure this interpretation is very speculative, but I still like it nonetheless!! At its core, I think it’s a song about a grumpy person pretending to be nice to talk to someone, but in reality they’re too shy to actually go through with it. Hope Kite Kid gets some therapy so he can manage his anger and hopefully try to talk to Cloud :D